A Blazing Rivalry
by fleeing-mouse
Summary: Basically, a girl's on the island with the boys. There will be many plot twists which I haven't entirely thought of yet. Eventually, I might have to change the rating to R, but for now PG13 works. P.S. Everybody is older and the time period isn't exact.
1. New Faces and Pain

Author's Notes: There isn't much in this first chapter, it's mostly an introduction to the main characters and a setting of the scene. It will get much better. It starts out a lot like the actual book, but it will be much different. The Lord of the Flies belongs to the brilliant William Golding. Hell, parts of this plot are copied almost exactly from the book (in this chapter at least). All of the characters accept for Annalise (pronounced Anna-lease) are the talented Mr. Golding's, and I mean no offense to him by using his story.

Annie trudged through the thick jungle growth, her dress catching on plants and tearing. Tears were making little rivulets on her face and she was shaking, rattled by the horrible crash. Her left arm was hurting badly and she held it close to her body. There were lots of boys on the plane and she wondered where they were. Just then she began to hear a sound feint sound, almost like a trumpet. She followed the gentle noise, hoping that it would lead to people.

It got harsher and louder as she got closer. She started to run for fear that the sound would stop, and as she ran she rubbed her face free of tears. She broke through the barrier of the jungle and found herself on the beach with a large crowd of boys in sight. She slowed to a quick walk and made her way toward the crowd, all boys who seemed to range in age from 4 to 15.

The noise, which she then realized to be a boy (probably the oldest in the group) blowing into a large shell, was blaring and piercing the air. As she approached the group a chubby boy with specks approached her.

"Name?" The pudgy boy asked.

"Annalise Alicia Sporwick." She said shakily.

"And age?" He asked in the same way.

"15." Annie answered.

She went and sat on the sand, not quite with the group of boys, but close to them. She saw a mass off in the distance, moving along the beach. As it got closer she noticed that it was a bunch of people, more specifically boys (of course). They walked in two lines led by one boy.

The boy stopped blowing into the shell and the new group's leader stood directly in front of him. They were talking but Annie couldn't hear what they were saying at first. She moved a little closer so that she could hear.

… "well I'm Merridew, why should I be any different?" Said the new group's leader.

"What's your first name? We're trying to make a list of all the people here." Said shell-boy.

"I'm Jack." The new group's leader answered.

"I'm Ralph, and that's Piggy." Said shell-boy while pointing out the chubby boy with specks as Piggy.

"And that's my choir." He said, pointing to the group behind him.

They all sat in a crude circle with no one as the center of importance. Jack sat beside Ralph on his right and his quire sat to his right. Piggy sat to Ralph's left with a few older boys to his left and then the gaggle of littleuns with Annie in the middle of them.

Because the group needed order and someone to keep it, Ralph was elected chief of the group. His first rule of business was to make a law the whenever they were having an assembly to discuss things the person that had the conch (that was what the shell was called) was the only one allowed to talk and that he was the only one that could interrupt them. It was also decided that Jack would still be in charge of his choir and that they would be hunters.

"I know that Piggy took all of the names, but I'd like to hear everybody's name and age just to get an idea of what we have for people. Right… I'll start. My names Ralph and I'm 15, have been for 4 months."

"Jack Merridow. I'll be 16 in two months."

They would announce themselves, going around in a circle. "Roger, 15." The boy next to Jack said.

"Maurice, 14."

"Robert, 14."

"Sam…"

"… and Eric"

"… 13." Said two identically smiling twins. A bunch of littleuns said their ages next, including

"P-P-Percival Wemys M-Madison, f-five."

Then it was her turn. "Annalise, 15." There was a murmuring from the older boys at seeing a girl there. Jack's hunters turned to each other and exchanged looks. He looked at her intently. His face was expressionless and his eyes were gaited so that she could see no emotion. Ralph looked at her too with an expression of mild confusion. It was clear that no one had noticed her before her brief announcement of herself. Piggy took off his specks and wiped them on his shirt.

"Why are you sitting with the littleuns?" Ralph said good-naturedly. Annie hadn't noticed that she was sitting with all of the little kids, but she was. The little boy sitting on her left was only five, the one on her right had to be even younger.

"I didn't notice that I was until just now." She answered honestly.

He smiled kindly. "Come and sit with us." He told her. It wasn't said as an order, but a question and an invitation, and she accepted. Annie got up and walked to the other side of the circle where Ralph and Jack had separated just enough to leave room for her between them. Ralph smiled at her and Jack smirked slightly. "I'm Ralph," he said quietly to her while the little kids continued saying their names and ages.

"I know." She answered quietly while smiling but not turning her head towards him so that her face was still forward but she looked at him out of the corners of her eyes. "You can call me Annie." Her arm was throbbing, and she hoped that the pain would soon subside.

"And I'm Jack." She heard whispered in her right ear, sending little shivers up and down her spine. It wasn't a shy whisper, but a humorous, and even slightly sexy and seductive one. She turned toward him and he smirked slightly.

"You can call me Annie." She said, more solemnly than she had spoken to Ralph.

He held out his hand for her to shake and she slowly took her right hand away from her pained left arm. He saw then that her arm was twisted in a weird way.

"What happened to your arm?" He asked.

"I hurt it in the crash, it'll be fine." She said unconvincingly.

"You're wincing!" He told her. "Shut up!" He said loudly to Piggy who had just begun to talk following the announcement of 'Simon, 12.'

"What's wrong Jack?" Ralph asked him.

"Look at 'er arm!" Whispers of 'It's all twisted up!' and 'That must hurt like hell!' Followed Jack's command and Ralph looked at her arm.

"Go play you littleuns." Ralph commanded. "And you all can go too." He announced to the older boys. They went off to go swimming, get food, and play in the woods. Piggy still hung around for a minute, but when he realized that he wasn't wanted he went off into the woods, presumably to get food. Jack didn't leave.

After they both examined, prodded and questioned for nearly half an hour they discovered that it her shoulder was badly dislocated. Something Piggy could have diagnosed in a minute.

"I can fix it. You just have to pop it back in place. It's gonna hurt." Said Jack.

"How bad?" She asked.

"It's pretty bad, it's gonna hurt pretty bad to fix it." Ralph cut in.

"Might as well get it over with." She said with a nervous sigh.

The boys decided that Jack would be the one to fix her shoulder. Ralph watched as Jack's fingers closed around her arm and she took a deep breath. There was something about this picture that made him wish he were Jack. He was the chief, he was supposed to be the one who got to make the decisions. And right now he decided that he wanted to be just as helpful as Jack.

"Wait!" He said quickly, just before Jack began to work on her arm. "Do you want something to bite on… you know, for the pain?"

She nodded her head fervently. "Yes, please." She said in a way that made it obvious she was nervous.

"I don't think you want any of the cloth on my clothes, they're dirty…" Ralph began, he could not think of anything to give her.

"You can cut off a bit at the bottom of my skirt." She suggested. "It keeps getting caught in plants anyway." Ralph reached into his pocket for his pocketknife. But it wasn't there.

"Damn it, I must have lost it in the crash!" He said angrily.

"Lost what?" She asked.

"My knife."

"S'allright Ralph, I can do it." Jack said as he knelt down. He pulled his own knife out of his pocket and cut off her skirt until it reached just above her knees. After cutting this cloth to a good size he bunched it up and handed it to her. She bit on it. Once again Jack curled his fingers around her arm and got ready. She sharply took in some breath. Just before Jack began, Annie's hand flew out and found Ralph's. She held it tightly and he was pleased that he could be useful, not to mention the fact that a girl was holding his hand. Jack now envied Ralph, she had sought him for comfort. Not that she really could have held his hand while he was trying to fix her shoulder, but still. He began.

She whimpered and struggled not to cry out in pain. She gave in and let out scream, the cloth falling out of her mouth. It hurt bad, really bad. Her head thrashed around a little and she cried and screamed some more. It seemed like a long time to her, but Jack was quick as an expert and was all over in a matter of minutes. Her shoulder popped back into place and she let out a loud sigh of relief as she struggled to regain her breath. The pain was gone.

She then were realized that the only thing holding her up was Ralph, and his arms wrapped around her. She regained her composure and hugged Ralph, thanking him. She separated from Ralph and walked over to Jack, the relief from the alleviated pain of her arm washing over her like the tide.

"Thank you," She said to Jack with a wide smile. "Jack." She added as an afterthought, before beginning to walk towards the forest in search of food.

The two boys exchanged icy vacant looks before closely following her. In the dark back of their minds sat a spark of rivalry.

Author's Notes: There you go. Hope you liked it. Like I said before, it will get better (I hope). Please review so I know what you think.


	2. Fruit and Water

Author's Notes: Hello, my wonderful readers. Thank you so much for your wonderful and encouraging reviews. I'm honored that you like my story. : ) Sorry this is such a short chapter. But to make up for its shortness, I will post the next chapter either later tonight or early tomorrow. Promise!

Annie, Ralph, and Jack walked through the thick growth into the woods in search of food and the others. They got deeper in the woods and could hear the playful yelling of little boys. They were getting close. As they walked, Jack and Ralph were behind Annie, silently admiring her legs. Jack was glad that he had cut her skirt short and privileged them to this view.

Soon all around them in the high trees were the older boys. They were high up, clinging to branches and throwing different fruit back and forth. The littleuns were on the ground reaching their hands up to the older boys and calling for fruit. All except for the boy called Simon, who was tossing them and Piggy generous amounts of fruit, were ignoring them.

Ralph quickly climbed one of the trees and grabbed some cocoanuts. He dropped some down to the littleuns and carried two as he climbed back down the tall tree. He hit the ground with cat-like grace and began walking towards Annie who was a good 20 feet away. Jack saw him as soon as he hit the ground and thought quickly.

"Roger!" Jack yelled with authority. "Throw me a pineapple!" Roger obliged and threw him a large, ripe pineapple. He looked at it and turned to Annie who was right beside him. "Want it?" He asked, while holding it out to her.

"Sure." She answered. "But I don't think that I could eat that much pineapple."

"We'll share it." He said as he drew out his knife and cut the pineapple in half.

"All right." She said happily as he handed her half. "Thanks."

"No problem."

She didn't notice the disappointed look on Ralph's face as he looked at her and Jack, stopped walking, and tossed one of the cocoanuts to Piggy. She was too busy eating the pineapple with Jack. He began walking again and approached them.

"Hey," he said, while masking his disappointment.

"Hey Ralph." Annie greeted happily.

"Hey," Jack said coolly.

"Oh," Annie said, "some of the little ones still don't have food, and the ones that do can't crack their cocoanuts or slice their pineapple."

In his disappointment Ralph hadn't noticed, and Jack, frankly, didn't care.

To anyone else he would have said 'and why should I give a shit?' but for some reason he didn't want to say this to Annie, especially when he had just one-upped Ralph.

"I didn't even notice." They both answered at the same time with the same amount of earnestness, even though Jack was lying.

"Anyone with a knife," Ralph yelled, "come down here!" Almost all of the boys in the choir ended up on the forest floor, and they all, Annie included, made sure that the littleuns had enough to eat.

After they all ate they were pretty thirsty despite the juices from the fruit. It didn't take long for Maurice of the choir to find a stream and they all gathered around it.

"Wait!" Piggy yelled as they all got ready to drink. "You have to boil it or you'll get sick!"

Yells of "will not!" and "shut the hell up, fatty!" Rang through the air and people began to drink right from the stream, despite Piggy's protests.

"I'm serious guys, you'll get really sick!" He screamed. But his screams fell on death ears.

Annie didn't drink right away like the others did. Instead, she approached Piggy and Simon where they were sitting on rocks a little ways away. "Why would it make you sick?" She asked suspiciously.

"There are things in the water." Piggy explained dejectedly. "Living things. And if you don't boil it and kill them, they'll make you sick."

"Oh," she said. She took his warning to heart and looked for a place to sit down.

"Here." The boy called Simon said as saw her searching and got off of his rock.

"I don't wanna take your seat." She said truthfully.

"It's ok." He said like a real gentleman. He was 12, she remembered, and small for his age. Yet he showed more true kindness, gentleness, and gentlemanly characteristics, than anybody else on the island. There didn't seem to be a selfish bone in his body. He had fed all of the little children before he had allowed himself any food, and here he was now, offering his seat in entirety to a lady, even though there was plenty of room for both of them to sit on it.

"Sit with me Simon?" She asked as she sat on the rock and he accepted by sitting beside her.

"They're all going to get sick." Piggy said knowledgably. "And we're going to have to take care of them."

"Then I guess we'll have to take care of them." Said Annie, resigned to what was in store for them.

Author's Notes: Ooooh, what _will_ happen next? I know, I know, this was a short chapter. But this was the perfect place to cut it off. The rivalry between Jack and Ralph is starting to appear. This really sets the stage for the next chapter, which I promise will be up later tonight or before five eastern tomorrow. Please! Review.


	3. Sickness

Author's Notes: Sorry guys, I really wanted to get this up sooner, but I was kind of stuck. I hope the last chapter was ok, I considered rewriting it because I didn't like it at all. Oh well : ( Hope you like this one. Thank you so much for reviewing, I love having such a positive response to my story. I can't thank you enough! I'll have the next chapter out definitely by December 23. I'm shooting for having it out on 19th or even the 18th though. Sorry for any grammatical errors, I didn't have time to read through it right now. Enjoy!

Annie, Simon, and Piggy sat on their rocks in foreboding. They might get lucky, not all water had to be boiled before it was drunk. The other boys began to rest beside the stream and lie in the sun. They were fed, they were watered, and the weather was warm shaded. They seemed fine and the air of apprehension surrounding the three rock-dwellers was lifting. Annie's mouth was getting dry and she wanted water. She pushed off of the rock and took a step toward the stream.

"Wait." The quiet voice of Simon said from behind her. "Just wait." She didn't question this wise little boy, she just took her seat back on the rock. They waited for a little while longer as some of the littleuns went off to play. It looked like the water was good, and everything was going to be ok.

Piggy got up and started walking to the brook. "Piggy…" Simon said cautiously. "Don't." Piggy almost went on, but he sat back down.

"Everyone's fine, Simon." Annie told him. "Why shouldn't we drink it?"

"I don't think it's good." Simon explained warily. "I just have a bad feeling about it."

"A feeling?" She asked rhetorically. "You had a feeling. That's why you told us not to drink the water yet?"

"Yeah." He answered, sounding embarrassed.

"Maybe you shouldn't put so much faith in your feelings." She said gently as she got up and began walking towards the water. She bent down to drink, but just as she did she heard a strange noise. One of the littleuns who had hung around the stream, the youngest known as Johnny, was retching.

"Shit!" Jack swore while jumping to his feet. "What the hell is wrong with him?!"

"It's the water." Piggy said while struggling to breath, presumably having an asthma attack. "It's bad."

Soon all the littleuns nearby were vomiting in the bushes, and barely able to hold themselves up.

"We have to get to the beach before everybody starts getting sick!" Ralph yelled. "The sun's gonna set soon, and we don't want to be in the woods where we can't see." He paused for a second because Sam had started throwing up. "Did anybody not drink the water?" He asked in the mounting panic as the older boys started to show sickness.

"We didn't." Annie said. "Simon, Piggy, and I."

"You're gonna have to…" Ralph struggled to say. "Gonna have to…" he tried again, but he too was in the bushed throwing up.

"Take care of the sick." Simon finished his sentence. Annie looked at him with panic in her eyes.

There were so many sick boys, some who could barely walk and would have to be brought to the beach.

"Anybody that can walk!" Annie yelled. "Head for where we were on the beach earlier!"

Ralph, Jack, and the hunters began walking to the beach. "Can either of you carry the little ones?" Annie asked Simon and Piggy.

"My asthma." Piggy answered, while still struggling to breath.

"Yes." Simon said quietly.

"I think I could carry the some of them, but my arm's still week, so I'm not sure how many."

"I'll go back to the beach, and help those guys." Piggy stated as he began walking away from them.

"Of course he will." Annie said, a little bitterly. "Leave us with the real work. Oh, well, I'm sure he'd rather not have asthma. How are we supposed to carry them to the beach while their throwing up?"

Somehow Simon and Annie managed to carry all of the little boys to the beach. It was difficult because some of them were still retching, but they finally managed. Little Simon had some vomit on his pants but he didn't seem to mind too much because he was so busy. Soon everyone had stopped vomiting. All the sick lay listlessly in the sand. They were in two basic groups: those that had been able to walk out themselves, and the much larger group of littleuns.

"They won't listen to me!" Piggy whined in exasperation. "I'm tryin' to take care of 'em and help 'em, but they won't let me! They keep yelling for water, and they need it before they get too dehydrated."

"What about cocoanut milk instead?" Annie asked.

"I think most of 'em couldn't hold it down." Piggy answered.

"We'll have to build a fire to boil water." Annie said.

"Alright, we'll gather some wood." Simon said.

"I can't. My asthma." Piggy interjected.

"Then you can take care of the others." Annie said as she and Simon began to walk to the woods to gather wood. It was quick work. They were able to pick up enough brush and wood off the forest floor itself and they didn't have to use any real strength, which was a good thing because neither of them had much right now.

"The biguns were yellin' at me, they started to throw sand at me so I started to take care of the littleuns." Piggy explained as they put all of the wood in a pile. "They're starting to get fevers and everything.

"Can you finish the fire Simon?" Annie asked.

"Yeah." He answered. She began to walk over to the group of older boys. They were lying in the sand, some groaning dramatically and whining for water.

She was right next to them now, looking down at them. They didn't seem to notice her right away. "Uh, hey guys." Annie said nervously. "How are you feeling?" They all stopped groaning immediately. "Better?" She asked sarcastically. "I know you're sick, but that's no excuse for treating Piggy like that."

"_That_ stupid fat bastard?" Roger asked.

"Yes." She said shortly, ignoring the insult. "He said you all have fevers. Do you?" She asked in an entirely different tone, comforting and worried.

She ended up having to feel each and every one of their heads because Piggy had based his observation on the way they looked alone. She put her hand on Ralph's head, it was hot and he was sweating. "Oh Ralph, you have a fever." She said quietly while putting her face a little closer to his.

"No, I'm fine really." He said while looking up at her, he tried to give a little smile and succeeded weakly.

"No, you're not." She told him. "Just lay down, Simon's getting a fire and water." She put her hand on Jack's head next. He focused on the softness of her skin.

"You have a fever too, Jack." She said, breaking him out of his reverie.

"Oh I do, do I?" He said in a voice slightly husky with lust. She looked into his cold eyes.

"Yeah." She said quietly. "You, uh, should lie down."

"No problem." He said coolly while smirking. She checked everybody else's heads and discovered that only Sam, Ralph, and Jack had fevers, and a few of the boys like Roger and Maurice were feeling fine.

She checked with Piggy and was surprised to find that only one of the littleuns still was sick. They had gotten it all out of their systems with their vomiting. Some of them were even playing and swimming. Simon had managed to start a fire using Piggy's glasses to reflect the sun onto the wood. He also had gotten some cocoanut shells, cleared them out, filled them with water, and boiled it.

She brought it back to the sick boys who were still lying in the sand, along with bringing the little boy named Kevin who was still sick. Eric was sitting next to a sleeping Sam (his twin) and rubbing his forehead carefully. "He'll be all right, Eric." Annie said, sounding a lot more sure than she actually was. Ralph was sleeping also and he looked really flushed. Jack was sitting and he smirked at her as she got closer.

"I think my fever's gone." He told her. She went over and put her hand on his head.

"No!" She said in a shocked voice. "You're burning up!"

"Are you sure your hands aren't just cold?" He asked while raising one eyebrow and smirking at her, and expression that almost any girl would find sexy. She sighed in frustration and brought her face closer to his. His eyes widened a little as she put her cheek to his forehead.

"Yes, you're burning up! Now please Jack, lie down." She practically begged. He did and she sent some of the little kids into the forest to soak cloth in stream to put on the heads of the sick. They came back with cocoanuts filled with the cool water and wet cloth, ironically part of her skirt that jack had cut off earlier.

Jack was now laying in the sand with his eyes closed. He was the closest to her so she knelt down beside him and put a wet cloth on his head.

"What the fu…" He began to say as the cold fabric made contact with his warm skin. His eyes shot open and he looked at her. He stopped mid-swear as he saw her face.

"It's just a cool cloth." She said quickly. "It might help bring the fever down."

"Oh, ok." He said to her. She gave him a little smile and he closed his eyes. She gave Eric a cocoanut shell and rag so that he could take care of Sam. Right now Piggy was sitting and thinking while polishing his glasses, and Simon was taking care of the fire. She moved on to little Kevin and put a rag on his head. He was in the midst of a fitful sleep, caused by his mounting fever. She didn't have a way of telling what his temperature was, but she was sure that it was nearing dangerous highs.

"Shh, shh, Kevin." She said comfortingly while rubbing his head. "It's ok, you're gonna get better soon." Ralph was next, and he was in the same condition as Kevin. The sun was beginning to set and all of the boys were coming back to the beach. They started to gather around and look Jack and Ralph, most of the choir boys focused on Jack, but the others gathered around Ralph.

"Is they gonna be ok?" One of the little boys asked. He was mostly talking about Jack and Ralph.

"Yes." Annie answered quickly. "Of course they are!"

"What if they die?" Another littleun asked.

"They're not going to die!" She said angrily, yet still in a contained way.

"We need a leader." Maurice said.

"Ralph's our leader." Piggy interjected.

"But what if he _dies_?" The same littleun asked again.

"He's _not_ going to…" Annie began.

"We should elect a substitute leader just incase." Roger stated excitedly. This was followed by a chorus of "yeah".

"We elected Ralph as our leader!" Piggy yelled.

"This'll be just incase he dies, and for when he's sick." Roger explained.

"He's not gonna…" Annie began to yell.

"Just incase, and just for now." Roger said, looking at her dangerously.

"How about Jack!" One of the littleuns piped up.

"Jack's sick too." Maurice stated.

"How about Roger!" Another littleun yelled in exhilaration. This was followed by "yeah, Roger!"

"How about Piggy or Simon!" Annie yelled in a last-ditch effort to make someone other than Roger temporary leader, though she didn't know why. This was followed by a bunch of no's from the crowd. "But they took care of you when you were sick!"

"Piggy's fat with glasses, and Simon's weird!" Robert chimed in.

"Who votes for Simon or Piggy?" Roger called out. This was answered by only Annie, Simon, and Piggy raising their hands along with boos from the crowd. "And who votes for me as temporary leader?!" He called again with much more zest and approval than the time before. The rest of the hands went up, and the large mob cheered.

"I guess _I'm_ leader then." Roger said with satisfaction, as the exact opposite feeling began to root in Annie's stomach.

A/N: There it is, chapter 3! Remember, Roger's only temporary leader… for now. Will Ralph, Jack, Sam, and Kevin wake up? Will Roger end up as the permanent leader? What will happen next? All these answers and more are yet to come. Please review, I love to hear what you think about my story!


	4. Chief Roger

A/N: Thank you so much for reviewing, the more you review, the more I want to write. I was so stuck after last chapter, so I hope this is ok.

"Get the hell out of here and go play you littleuns!" Roger said jovially, he was clearly very happy about being the temporary leader. The littleuns ran off leaving the much smaller group of biguns. "Choir!" Roger addressed loudly. "Some of you can go hunting and some of you can build shelters." All of the boys wanted to go hunting and they all had knives ranging from pocketknives that they had owned since before the crash, and two hunting knives that someone had found near the crash from the plane.

Roger had decided, though, and some of them would have to stay behind and build shelters. Annie was still taking care of the sick and she had no objections. She wouldn't have minded some help though. "Piggy, will you help me?" She asked.

"He can't help you." Roger told her.

"Why not?" She asked, not in a confrontational way.

"He's busy." Roger said shortly.

"No he's not." She said, getting a little confused now.

"I said, he's busy." He told her slowly, as if she were incredibly stupid.

"Doing what?" She asked, not meaning to argue with him.

"Does it really matter?" He asked rhetorically. "Why won't you just listen to what I'm telling you." He was getting angry now.

"I'm sorry." She said quickly, getting nervous. "I just… I just don't understand. He's not even doing anything."

"If you argue with me one more time," he threatened darkly, "_you_ won't be taking care of the sick either." She didn't say anything. She just held the cloth to Ralph's head. Roger started to walk away into the woods. "And if anything happens to Jack, you're in deep shit." He added just before he disappeared into the forest.

She was scared of Roger, who wouldn't be? Piggy was nowhere to be found and she realized that Roger had probably sent him off to do some meaningless task. "Simon." She called. He came.

"Yeah?" He asked.

"Will you help me?" She asked him.

"Yeah, 'course I will." He said, sounding like he didn't care if Roger got mad at him. He re-soaked little Kevin's cloth and put it on his head.

"Do you think they'll be ok, Simon?" She asked, finally voicing the question that had been plaguing her mind.

"I… I think…" He trailed off, giving her his answer.

"Do you think Roger hates me?" She asked.

"The only person Roger likes is Jack." Simon answered. "And I'm not even sure about that."

"But, does it seem like he really hates me? More than everybody else I mean?"

"He focuses on you, but that might be just 'cause you're different."

"Because I'm a girl, you mean?"

"Yeah."

The littleun and Ralph were tossing in their sleep and they seemed to be a lot worse off than Jack and Sam. They were all in a fever induced sleep though, and it was making Annie very nervous. The sun was setting when the hunters, and littleuns that were off playing with Piggy watching them, came back. They had no meat, but nobody dared to say anything. All of the little kids had horrible sunburns due to their prolonged exposure and they appeared to be in pain. Luckily the sick had been in shade near the woods all day.

The sun had set. And there were two crude shelters started. Roger had sent the littleuns off to sleep and was sitting with his hunters around the fire. It was getting cold. Simon and Annie were struggling to move sick closer to the fire. They had started to move Ralph first when Roger ordered them to bring Jack instead. They had no choice but to obey their leader.

"Go to sleep, Simon." Roger told him.

"But, Roger, we should move the others near the fire so they don't get too cold." Simon protested.

"Go to sleep, Simon." He said again, using the same voice he had used earlier with Annie when he had made her seem very stupid. He gave Simon a look that seemed to say "don't mess with me." And Simon was forced to go to sleep. Annie began to go over to the other sick.

"Where do you think you're going?" Roger asked her.

"To bring Ralph, Sam, and Kevin closer to the fire, it's cold." She answered icily.

"They'll be fine where they are." He told her.

"Then I'm going to take care of them." She said.

"They'll be alright, take care of Jack." He said, pointing to Jack who lying asleep next to him at the fire. She went over and refreshed the cloth on his head.

"There isn't much more that I can do for him." She told Roger.

"I know what you can do for him." Maurice murmured quietly, causing all of the boys to snigger.

"What?" She asked because she hadn't heard what he said.

"Nothing." Maurice answered.

"Is Jack gonna be ok?" Robert asked her.

"I don't know." Annie answered.

"Hey, guys." Roger said. "Why don't you go to sleep." They got up to go to the shelters and Annie tried to follow. "Not you." He told her and she was forced to stop and turn around.

"Look, I don't know what the hell your problem is, but…" She began angrily.

"Oh, you don't know what my problem is?" He said dangerously while getting up and walking towards her. "I gave you one job, make sure Jack gets better."

"And how am I supposed to do that?" She asked. "I'm not a doctor, Roger."

"Don't talk to me like that, you little bitch." He said coming within inches of her now. She was horrified of him. He grabbed her shoulders roughly and dipped his head down to hers, forcefully taking her lips in a violent kiss. She was too scared to resist and his kiss got gentler. He wouldn't go any further than kiss her, not yet anyway.

They began to hear a feint moaning from very close-by and the kiss was broken, much to Annie's relief. It was Jack, his fever had broken and he was waking up.

A/N: There's chapter 4! I don't like this chapter at all : ( I hope you like it though, I feel like it's moving too fast and not enough happened. I hope I'm wrong. Please review, if you don't like it I'll re-write it. The next chapter, or a re-write, whatever you want, will be out by December 23rd.


	5. Jack, the Temporary Chief

A/N: Hello my wonderful readers! Thank-you for your reviews, they always make me so happy. In response to all the requests I've been getting for a smackdown: Ralph's kinda incapacitated right now. If he wakes up there will eventually be a smackdown… but not yet. To iSpeekyGreeky: I think Jack's actually like 12 or 13, probably even younger. I changed the ages because they didn't really fit my story. Sorry this chapter's late, and thanks again for the reviews.

"Jack's up! Jack's awake!" Roger screamed to the kids in the tents. Annie rushed over and dropped down beside Jack who was now fully awake. Her smiling face in the firelight was the first thing that he saw when he woke.

"Oh Jack, Jack!" She said joyfully. "Are you alright?"

"I'm ok." Jack said, weekly. She put her hand on his head.

"Your fever's gone, Jack!" She told him with a smile.

By now all of the boys were piling out of their tents and rushing over towards Jack. "Jack's better! Jack's better!" Rang through the crowd of boys. Ralph announced that Jack would be the temporary chief instead of himself.

"Jack, buddy." Maurice said. "We thought you'd never wake up." Jack was sitting now and Maurice slapped him on the back gently.

Annie hugged him. "I'm so glad you're awake." She told him. Then she remembered Ralph, Sam, and Kevin who were still sick. She sprang up just as he was adjusting to her comfortable hug and began running over to them. She could pick up little Kevin by herself and she brought him over to the fire. Jack stood up with a little bit of difficulty and he saw what she was doing. He was bitter that she had left him but he told some of the boys to help her anyway.

The three sick boys were now in the warmth of the fire and Annie began to nurse them as before. Which basically constituted of her putting a cool cloth on their heads. Eric took care of Sam. Little by little the boys went off to bed until it was just Ralph, Maurice, Eric, Jack, and Annie still awake. Simon wasn't around, but nobody noticed.

"So, what happened while I was asleep?" Jack asked nonchalantly. Roger related all of the details of what happened while Jack was asleep, conveniently leaving out when he kissed Annie.

"We'll have to go hunting tomorrow." Jack decided. "And some people can stay and build the shelters." The boys agreed. "Analise, when are they going to wake up?" He asked.

"I don't know." She said. In reality she didn't know if they would wake up, but she would never say that.

"They could die Jack!" Maurice said anxiously.

"Really?" Jack asked Annie. She didn't answer at first.

"They could, but they won't." She said stubbornly.

Roger and Maurice fell asleep eventually, but Annie kept taking care of Ralph and Kevin as Sam took care of Eric. Jack pretended to be asleep, but he jealously watched Annie take care of Ralph.

Annie put her hand on Kevin's head and noticed that it was even hotter than before. "Poor little thing," she whispered, "just hold on for a little while longer." The sun was about to rise and the air was lit with an eerie light. Suddenly one of the littleuns a ways off began to cry, but Annie was too tired and preoccupied to go see what was the matter.

The sun began to rise and Jack was the first to wake. "You two look exhausted." Jack commented. "Were you up all night?" Annie nodded. "Why don't you go to sleep, I can take care of them for a while."

"It's alright, Jack." Annie said in a very worn out voice. "I want to stay with him… them." She corrected herself.

"You mean you want to stay with Ralph." He said quietly.

"What?" She asked, she hadn't heard him.

"Nothing."

The others woke up and they began to go and get fruit and water for boiling on the fire that Annie had kept going all night by adding branches from a pile of wood that Simon had made. Jack went off and came back with breakfast for her, a couple bananas and a cocoanut.

"Thank-you Jack." She said as peeled the bananas and began eating them ravenously. He boiled her some water and she managed to prop the sick boys up to drink it. "Ralph," she said quietly to the still unconscious form of Ralph. "Come on Ralph, wake up." He didn't. Jack went to go hunting with some of his hunters (his choir). Annie kept taking care of the sick boys and Simon tended the fire.

Eric was just about to start crying when Sam slowly began to rouse. "C'mon Sam," he urged, "almost there." Sam's eyes opened and a smile spread across his face, which was quickly mirrored by Eric. "Sam's awake! Sam's awake!" He screamed in joy and some of the littleuns gathered around to see. He didn't get up as quickly as Jack but he was soon beginning to stand with Eric's help, and they walked off to get water. The littleuns left, leaving just Annie, Ralph, and Kevin along with Simon who was throwing some more logs on the fire.

Jack ran through the woods with Roger directly behind him. They were carrying the hunting knives looking for pigs. "When we catch them we'll have a huge feast." Roger said hopefully.

"Yeah." Jack said, almost in a daze because of the chase.

They kept up the search for the pigs, but they didn't come across any. They eventually came into a clearing under a thick cover of leaves. It was hotter in here than anywhere else on the island and there were brightly covered flowers all around. Jack's eyes widened, lit with an idea.

"Come on, Jack. Let's go." Roger said while pulling gently on Jack's sleeve.

"Wait." He said in a very preoccupied way, shaking off Roger's hand. "For Annie." He said as he picked several flowers. "Let's go back to camp now. We can continue hunting tomorrow." They left the clearing and Jack called for his hunters to go back to camp.

He walked swiftly with the other boys behind him. As he got closer to the beach he could hear Annie crying. She was sobbing something, but he couldn't tell what she was saying. He ran and broke through the barrier of the forest into the hot sun. There was a crowd of little boys surrounding what seemed to be Annie. He dropped the flowers and rant to the edge of the group. Over their little heads he could see her weeping over the body of a boy and he could now hear what she was saying over and over again…

"He's dead… he's dead!"

A/N: Wicked cliffie! I am so mean! I'm really in a writing mood, so the next chapter will be out really soon, probably by tomorrow or the day after. I'm really sorry that I didn't make my deadline. Please review. Merry Christmas!


	6. A Funeral

A/N: Here it is. Yup, here it is. Hope you like it.

Even though Annie was in the shade away from the fire with the boys it was still hot. Jack tore through the crowd of boys and dropped down beside Annie, much as she had done earlier next to him. It was Kevin. Jack put his fingers on the little boys' wrists. He felt no pulse. His eyes looked up into her tear-filled ones.

"He is dead." He said. Her head dropped into her hands and her weeping subsided. The little boys, Piggy, and Sam and Eric began to whimper slightly. Jack patted Annie's back comfortingly and then put his arm around her. He put his head close to hers and smelled her hair discretely.

The attention of the little boys began to wane. They didn't really understand death and they were only because she had been. They began to break off from the group to go play their little games. Jack began to run his hand up and down her side while her head still rested in her hands. The other boys eventually began to break off and go into the woods or swim. It was eventually just Simon watching Annie along with Jack still holding his arm around her.

Jack allowed his fingers to gently and quickly play across the exposed skin of her neck, and she didn't seem notice. Suddenly her head rose form her hands and she looked at Jack. "I… I have to take care of Ralph." She said quietly. "I have… he… or… he'll die too." A hidden fury flamed inside of Jack at the mention of how she had to take care of Ralph.

"Well, you better do it then." He said through clenched teeth. She didn't notice his strange demeanor because she was still concentrating on Kevin and her exhaustion. She crawled over to Ralph and sat next to him, refreshing his cloth.

"Do you think he'll be ok?" She asked worriedly to nobody in particular.

"I don't know." Jack answered. "He looks really flushed."

Simon said nothing he just went over to the angelic corpse of the little boy. He let his hand glide over the little boys head, pushing his sweaty dark hair out of his face and whispered something over the boy. He then got up and began walking away towards the forest. Just before he breached the thick tree cover he turned back to Annie, and looked at her for a second. "He's fighting," he said just before he disappeared into the woods.

"What the hell is the little weird kid talking about?" Jack asked her.

"I'm not sure," she said quietly while holding the cloth on Ralph's head and not looking up. "And he's not weird."

"I think he means that Ralph's fighting the sickness." Piggy piped up from where he was sitting near-by. Annie's head snapped to him, she had been unaware of him until he had spoken. Jack also had been unaware of him but he didn't react the same way Annie had.

"Who the hell asked you?" Jack said angrily.

"I bet that is what it means, Piggy." Annie said, returning to the state she had been in before where she watched Ralph intently. She snapped out of her reverie and noticed that nobody had bothered to move the body. "Jack, please…" she began unsurely.

"Yeah?" He asked in a deep voice while raising one eyebrow questioningly.

"Will you please move Kevin?" She asked. "Have a funeral, or move him until you can have one." He looked at her for a second, then he nodded good-naturedly.

"Roger, hunters," Jack called and they came running over. "Take Kevin and bury him on the other side of the island." She didn't watch as some of the hunters were forced to carry the corpse away along the beach. Piggy got up and followed them.

"Simon!" Annie called as loudly as she could, she didn't yell very loud because she was so exhausted. "Simon!" She tried again. "I want him to be at the funeral. He's…" She paused in her explanation to Jack because she couldn't think of a way to describe Simon. The word she might have been looking for could be spiritual, but she just couldn't think of it.

"Simon!" Jack screamed, much louder than she could. Simon eventually emerged from the trees looking worried.

"What's wrong?" He asked looking from Annie to Jack and then at Ralph.

"They're having a funeral on the other side of the island." Annie told him.

He asked which way they went and he ran off to try to catch up to them.

"Ralph, please wake up." Annie pleaded grabbing onto his shirt and resting her head on his chest. Jack was getting even angrier, but instead of showing it he went into the woods and got her some food.

On the other side of the island most of the boys were busy digging a large deep hole. Roger was over-seeing and not helping to dig. "Why couldn't we just dump his body in the ocean?" Roger said, noticing all of the trouble that the diggers were having with the hole. They didn't have any tools to dig with and they had to dig with just their hands. "It's not like he was anyone important, just a littleun." The only reason why he was even taking the time to have them dig a hole was because Jack had told him to bury the body.

Simon was helping to dig the hole, but Piggy was sitting on a rock near-by. "Why aren't you helping, Fatty?" Roger asked him harshly.

"My asthma." Piggy answered briefly.

"I don't give a shit about your asthma, it doesn't give you an excuse not to help." He said while walking toward him angrily. Rogers fist darted out and nearly connected with Piggy's stomach. He didn't do it. Structured society was still in control. Piggy flinched and Roger turned abruptly and walked back to the edge of the hole.

When the boys were done they lowered the little body into the hole and covered it with displaced dirt. Simon found a large rock and used it as a headstone for the grave. He said a familiar prayer that they had all memorized in school and the other boys joined in. The choir sang Amazing Grace softly. It was hardly much, but it was something. They began to walk back to the beach in the dark, led by the light of the moon. Still singing softly.

It was dark back at camp. The littleuns had gone to bed. Annie was still sitting with Ralph. She was so tired that she could barely keep her eyes open, but she felt like she had to. She wouldn't leave Ralph now. Jack had helped her carry him over by the fire a while ago, and it was warm where he was. Jack sat off in the cold a few feet away. He was on a rock and he gazed coldly at the incapacitated boy in the sand next to an exhausted girl, practically obsessed with saving his waning life.

Jack wanted to say something. The silence was draining, but he didn't know what to say. Soon they began to hear a soft singing off in the distance. As the noise became closer they were able to distinguish the words. Amazing Grace. The came into view and Jack and Annie watched the group come closer. After hours and hours of diligent care, Annie didn't notice as Ralph's eyes slowly opened.

A/N: I hope you like this chapter better than I do. Not much of a cliffhanger either. I hope you like it though. I'll do a rewrite if you want me to. Sorry this took so long. Please review.


	7. The Beast and the Grave

A/N: I'm really glad you like that last chapter, I was worried. Thank you for your encouragement, and don't worry I won't give up on this story until it's completely done and posted. There will be a smack down, don't worry. But, it won't be for a little while. To answer another question: there will probably be a large amount of romance eventually. But no promises there. It will never take me that long to update again, and I sincerely apologize for the wait.

As Ralph awoke Annie was leaning over him, but looking away. It was dark, but the air was warm by the fire. There was singing and nobody seemed to notice that he was awake. Then she looked down into his open eyes. "Ralph…" She whispered in disbelief. "He's awake!" She said while turning to face Jack. "Jack, Jack, Ralph's awake!" The singing died out and Jack flew up from his seat on the rock and ran over to Ralph.

"Ralph, buddy!" He said jovially while slowly helping Ralph into a sitting position. He wasn't thoroughly happy that Ralph was awake, but he was glad that there were no more deaths. He acted thoroughly happy and nobody could see through his act. "Ralph's awake!" He screamed so that all of the little boys who were sleeping could hear. He clapped Ralph heartily on the back, but not hard enough to hurt the sick boy.

"Hey." Ralph said while smiling. He was talking to Jack, but smiling at Annie. She didn't say anything. She just wrapped her arms around him in a big hug. He hugged her back and she rested her head on his shoulder. There was a rage filling Jack, and his jaw was set stonily as he looked on with cold eyes. No one was more surprised than Ralph when Annie fell asleep on his shoulder.

It was hot and muggy as Annie woke in one of the shelters. She was still tired but the heat drove her to waking. She saw that the shelter was full of boys lying around asleep. She noticed right away that she had been sleeping between Jack and Ralph. Ralph was awake and sitting up. She sat up and looked at him.

"How are you feeling?" She asked him, noting that he looked like he had completely recovered.

"Great." He answered with a smile. "Thanks…"

"For what?"

"Simon told me that you took care of me and the other guys the whole time we were out. I'd probably be dead if it weren't for what you did." He explained.

"You're welcome." She said.

"You hungry?" He asked while getting up.

"Yeah, now that you mention it." She answered. She made to get up by herself, but he reached his hand down and pulled her to her feet, while she smiled at him. The left the shelters and walked through the woods to the fruit trees. He climbed a tree and threw some bananas down which she caught. He tossed a pineapple, but she let that fall so that the sharp points of the fruit wouldn't cut her hands. They sat at the base of a tree and ate.

"How long do you think we'll be here, Ralph?" She asked as she peeled a banana.

"I don't know, it could be a long time." He said after he had finished chewing and swallowing. "We should try to make the island as much like civilization as possible."

After a while littleuns began walking into the woods and they both went out to the beach after Ralph had gotten them some fruit. Jack and the hunters were just coming out of the shelters when Annie and Ralph walked onto the beach. Jack was shirtless and wearing baggy khaki shorts that reached to his knees. He stretched his arms above his head as he walked out of the shelter. All of the hunters were in the same state as he and they walked out the shelter after him.

"'Morning, Jack." Annie said cheerfully to him as they got closer.

"Hey," He said coolly with a little bit of a smirk and a nod as he looked at her. He then turned his head toward Ralph. "Hey." He said with a flat voice and stony eyes.

"Hey." Ralph answered a little more warmly than Jack had addressed him. "Are you hunting today?"

"Yeah." Jack answered. "We're gonna catch a pig today."

"Oh, I hope you do." Annie interjected cheerfully. "I'm so hungry for something other than fruit!"

"Don't worry, I'll get one for you." Jack said with a smirk causing Annie to smile.

"I'm gonna have a meeting before you go." Ralph announced. He picked up the conch from where it had been sitting in the sand and blew it. All of the boys came running and all of they began to sit down around Ralph. During the meeting Jack was the only one who dared to interrupt anybody (except for Ralph who could interrupt anybody he wanted because he was the chief) but nobody noticed that whenever Annie was speaking and he wanted to say anything he would wait until she was done. Eventually Annie brought up the topic of how she had heard a little kid scream in the night when she was taking care of Ralph.

"There was a beastie!" The little boy who had been the screamer stood up and announced.

"There's no such thing." Piggy said in response.

"Yes there is, I saw it, it attacked me!" The littleun argued.

"Are you sure you weren't just dreaming?" Ralph asked maturely.

"I wasn't dreaming. It had big claws and it grabbed me!"

"Then why don't you have scratches on your skin?" Piggy asked superiorly.

"I do." The littleun said as he went around the circle of boys showing them his arms which were, surely enough, scratched. What nobody noticed about the pattern of the scratches was that they were in five lines like they had been made by fingernails.

"If there is a beast," Jack announced loudly while getting up, "we'll hunt it and kill it!"

"There isn't a beast." Piggy whispered under his breath. Jack and some of his hunters went off into the woods to hunt and the littleuns went to play. They other hunters helped Ralph build shelters and looked after the fire.

"Is it ok if I go to the other side of the island to see Kevin's grave, Ralph?" Annie asked him. After all, he was the chief.

"'Course you can." Ralph said while lifting a heavy branch with the help of Sam. "I'd go with you, but we really need to build more shelters. You should go with somebody though…" whether he said this because of the possibility of a beast or some other reason, she didn't know. "You can go with Simon." With that Simon and Annie began to walk along the beach to the other side of the island where the grave was.

"Is there a beast, Simon." Annie asked and waited for his answer. "Come on Simon, I know you know… please tell me, I'll believe you."

"There's no beast." He said quietly. "Not really anyway…" He left the sentence hanging and she didn't question him further. They made it to the grave and she looked on it for a few moments. The mock headstone that Simon had laid was the only sigh left that Kevin even existed. They left the grave and decided to walk through the woods instead of around the whole island. There was no danger of them getting lost because Simon had already been all over the island.

They walked through until it began to get very quiet. The constant sounds of animals were gone, leaving them in an eerie silence. "This isn't good." Simon said quietly.

"What is it?" Annie whispered.

"I don't know." There was no sound for another minute and Simon and Annie stopped moving and stood still to listen. Suddenly there was a rustling in the distance. It got closer. The sound of yelling followed. Suddenly a boar burst through the brush and Annie and Simon had to jump out of the way in order to keep from being pierced by the boar's sharp tusks. A bunch of boys came crashing through after the boar. Their faces were painted and they were running with raised spears made out of sharpened sticks. They didn't follow the boar as it ran past Annie and Simon, instead, they turned on a different kind of prey.

Annie and Simon began to run through the woods as fast as they could. Annie felt herself being grabbed by the waist and pushed up against a tree by toned arms. She struggled but he put his knife up against her throat and pressed down gently, not hard enough to cut. She looked into his stony eyes and recognized them immediately.

"Jack!" She choked out. "What are you doing?" He immediately dropped the knife, and looked completely shocked at what he had been doing.

"We were hunting, I got caught up." He explained while running his hands through his hair. "Jesus, Annie, I didn't mean to."

"I know you didn't." She said, still a little shaken. They boys had come to their senses and were no longer chasing Simon, who was swift enough to get away from them and not be caught like Annie was. "What did you put on your face?" She asked in slight alarm, looking at the mixture of rich colors caked on his face, a grotesque mask.

"It's just some clay we for hunting, nothing scary." Jack explained suavely. "We almost got him that time. There's another one!" He called out as he dashed off after a fat sow darting through the forest.

Annie and Simon walked back to camp a little shaken, but otherwise unharmed. When they came through the trees onto the hot beach the sun was high in the sky and the heat was extreme. Ralph and the hunters who were helping to build had all shed their shirts and some had even rolled their shorts up a little bit. Annie was again aware of her own discomfort and she really wished that she had shorts and a t-shirt instead of her knee length skirt and sweater.

Ralph gave her his shirt and she bathed in the river and washed the shirt. She tied a knot at the bottom of the shirt so that it didn't look so big on her. When she went back she could see that the littleuns had been playing in the sun all day and they were burned badly. "Will you tell the littleuns to stay out of the sun, Ralph?" Annie asked him as he sat in the sand taking a break.

"Why?" He asked, a little confused.

"They're all burned and they could get sun sickness."

"Good idea. But I want you to tell them. They should learn to listen to you too." He said quietly. If she could have read his thoughts she would have heard '_Listen to you like a mother.'_ But she couldn't read his thoughts so the statement stayed like that. She walked so that she was up to her ankles in the ocean and called to the littleuns who were swimming:

"Boys!" She called out while forming her hands like a megaphone around her mouth. "Please come in now and stay in the shade! You're going to get sick and I'm sure you all have sunburns!" None of them listened even though they heard her.

Ralph grabbed the top of her arm gently. "It's ok. They'll learn to listen when they have sunburns and they're a little sick. I could tell them to get out of the water, but it's better if they learn for themselves to listen to you." He went off to bathe and so did the other boys.

Surely enough, they were sick later and they had horrible sunburns. Annie put cocoanut milk on the burns to help ease the pain. The best thing that could be done for them was to get them to sleep. They were helped into the huts by Annie and the boys and they began to sleep just as the sun was setting.

After a while it was night and the hunters still had not come back. The group on the beach was beginning to worry because of the long absence of their comrades. Annie was sitting very close to Ralph and they were almost touching shoulders. They had watched the sun set like this. There was a far-off singing/chanting from the group of hunters, signaling the relief of the waiting group. The singing was very loud now as they approached. It was the unmistaken song of a great victory.

A/N: Sorry it took me so long to update. I'm getting killed with work before midterms next week. It's extra-long to make up for how long it took me to post. I don't really like this chapter at all, so if you do like it some positive reinforcement would be great. You're always so good about that anyway. As always, I am willing to do a rewrite. Hope you like and please review.


	8. Kill the beast! Cut his throat! Spill hi...

A/N: Hello, my dear readers. Thanks for your reviews. I love the controversy over whether you support Jack or Ralph. It is about 50-50 right now. I know I missed my date I was supposed to post on by about a week. Sorry, this was due to conditions beyond my control, like sickness, and a killer computer problem. Anyway, hope you enjoy.

Jack came onto the beach first. He must have washed his mask off before he came back to the camp because his face was no longer the borage of colors that it had been. He was leading the boys in a chorus of loud, happy music and the thing that came through the trees next shocked Annie, even though she had been hoping for it for a while. It was a large pig, a sow, carried by four of the hunters. One grabbing each of its legs and carting it along while singing.

Ralph sprang to his feet and after pulling Annie up they ran over beside the fire, where Jack had told his hunters to lay the pig.

"You got one, Jack!" Ralph said with a large smile on his face.

"We surrounded her on the beach!" Jack yelled back above the roar of the boys singing.

"Just in time, some of the littleuns were getting sick from eating just fruit." Ralph said.

Jack and Ralph cut the pig with their knives and then they proceeded to roast pieces of pork on the fire using sticks. Annie couldn't watch the pig being carved up at first, but she eventually began to take small peeks from behind her hands as she became more comfortable seeing the dead animal.

The littleuns had been awakened by the loud singing, and nothing could have kept them in the shelters once they found out that there was a pig to be roasted. Luckily most of the littleuns didn't have fully developed appetites, or else there wouldn't have been nearly enough pig for everybody. They all stood around a blazing fire, roasting their meat on the sticks.

After everybody had finally finished eating they ended up plopping down in the sand in a big group, while Jack told the story of the hunt. He greatly embellished the tale, making the pig out to be huge and eventually the story escalated to one of a war between the hunters and a horde of mutant-huge pigs. The crowd gasped and cheered excitedly at all the right moments, and some of the littleuns even screamed at times.

When Jack finished telling the story they were all very excited and began to run around. "Maurice is the pig!" Roger shouted and the hunters and Ralph began to chase Maurice with wooden spears. He darted through the sand, and jumped over Annie, who was sitting in the sand with Simon, they were cheering for the group to "catch the pig!" Eventually a chant started up among the chasing group:

"Kill the pig! Cut his throat! Spill his blood!"

They were screaming it and chasing the scurrying Maurice. They stabbed around the boy's body, driving their spears into the sand and narrowly missing him but inches.

"Kill the pig! Cut his throat! Spill his blood!"

Jack and Ralph lead the group in the chase and they cornered Maurice just like they had cornered the sow earlier that day.

"Kill the pig! Cut his throat! Spill his blood!"

Maurice dug into the sand and tried to back away from the menacing savages. Fear showed in his eyes as he realized that he was surrounded and they were closing in, sharpened spears raised. The deadly points were all directed at him, ready to snap down and end the life of the pretend swine.

"KILL THE PIG! CUT HIS THROAT! SPILL HIS BLOOD!"

They all drew back their spears, as if to thrust them forward into the boy before them, as if to actually spill his precious blood. Annie and Simon sprang to their feet and ran over to keep the 'game' from going any further.

"STOP!"

Maurice's terrified yell rang through the air, barely heard over the chanting.

"STOP! STOP!"

Annie and Simon were screaming it now, too. They tried to break into the tight circle to keep the boys from harming Maurice, but they weren't strong enough to breach the blocking force of the boys. Suddenly, Annie stopped and scanned the circle of hunters, thinking.

"Jack's the beast!" She yelled as loudly as she possibly could, and by some miracle her yell carried over the chanting. She knew that the boys wouldn't be able to resist furthering their game to such prey as the beast, and they wouldn't harm Jack.

Jack immediately dropped his spear, and dashed away from the group. He was faster than Maurice. The game of chasing the beast was different than the game of chasing the pig. The pig was stupid defenseless creature and could do nothing but run, the beast was deadly, elusive, and shining with predatory intelligence. The beast, attacked back.

The boys dropped their spears to even the stakes between them and Jack, making the game more realistic. Jack grabbed a littleun and picked him up. The littleun screamed he was carried about by the pretend beast. Jack dumped the little body into the sand a ways away from where he picked him up and as the hunters ran toward Jack he 'killed' the littleun.

"Kill the beast! Cut his throat! Spill his blood!"

The chant began again with renewed vigor as the hunters saw their beast pretend to kill the littleun. The beast ran full-on at the group of boys running towards him and he easily broke through the group and began running the other way. The hunters turned and ran after him.

"Kill the beast! Cut his throat! Spill his blood!"

Jack ran up to Annie and looped his arm around her, lifting her with ease. He carried her just as he had the littleun and dropped her down so that she was lying in the sand. He knelt down and loomed over her, griping the sides her stomach and the tops of her hips with his hands.

"Are you going to kill me, beast?" She asked in mock horror.

"Oh no, little girl," he said slyly, "not yet."

Before he could do anything else Ralph lunged himself at Jack the beast. Caught by the surprise attack, Jack was pinned by Ralph. Ralph saw the handle of Jack's knife sticking out of the pocket of his shorts. He pulled out the dangerous blade, quickly drew it out of its protective sheath, and drove the blade into the sand beside Jack's head. Signifying his conquer of the beast.

"Robert's the beast!" Roger yelled, showing that he wasn't ready to end the game yet.

"Kill the beast! Cut his throat! Spill his blood!"

The hunters, even Jack and Ralph, dashed after Robert. He wasn't as bold as Jack, and didn't make a very suitable beast, but they pursued him anyway. Robert was much more suited to be a pig and they surrounded him quickly.

"Kill the beast! Cut his throat! Spill his blood!"

Robert fell to the group in his frenzied attempts to get away. He dug his fingers and heels into the sand, sending bits of it flying, trying to push and pull himself backwards. He didn't know that people were in back of him and when he saw that there were he tried to go forwards, but that didn't work because the people in front of him had been closing in the whole time. Robert whipped his head from side to side, looking for an escape.

"Kill the beast! Cut his throat! Spill his blood!"

Roger emerged from the circle and picked a spear up off the ground. Before anybody could think he was beside Robert.

"KILL THE BEAST! CUT HIS THROAT! SPILL HIS BLOOD!"

The group closed in even more until there was less than a foot between them and a terrified, whimpering Robert. Roger drew the spear back and before Robert could even scream stop, he forcefully brought the spear down, hitting more than sand with deadly weapon.

A/N: There you go. This chapter was kind of fun to write. In a way you kind of got to read a mini smack-down between Ralph and Jack. I thought it was alright, it was mostly action but there was some substance. I thought it was time for some more chaos on the island. Hope you liked. Please review!


	9. Piggy's Use

A/N: Hello my lovelies. It is great to be posting again. 60 reviews! I am so happy! Thank you, thank you, thank you, I'm glad you like my story. Hope you like this chapter, please review.

Dead silence. Horror filled eyes were trained on Robert and mouths hung wide open. Robert's eyes were widest with shock and his mouth formed a massive crater in his face. He looked up at Roger who was wide-eyed and breathing heavily. Robert let his gaze fall dizzily downward, tracing down the wood of the spear, which was sticking strait up. Down, down, and then suddenly it merged with flesh, the flesh of his thigh. That's when the silence ended.

Robert sucked in air and began screaming as loud as his lungs would go. The scream seemed to be unending and it was quickly joined by the wails and screams of littleuns. "Sam, Eric," Ralph screamed, "get them out of here!" He was pointing to the littleuns. The twin boys hesitated for a minute, but they snapped out of it and began to herd the scared little ones away.

"How far in is the spear?" Ralph asked as Robert began to sob.

"About two inches." Jack answered as he picked up another spear and measured the amount sticking out of Robert's leg against it. Annie and Simon had run over to Robert and were now standing beside Jack and Ralph. Piggy was walking over quickly.

"Oh my God!" Annie gasped as she covered her mouth with her hand in shock. Little Simon's eyes went wide.

"We have to be careful taking the spear out or it'll tear the muscle even more." Piggy said as he approached the group.

"What the fuck do you know!" Roger asked angrily.

"You're the one that stabbed him…" Piggy replied indignantly.

"It was an accident!" Roger roared as he flung himself at Piggy. Jack was quick and he positioned himself between Roger and Piggy so that Roger wouldn't kill the pudgy boy in his rage.

"Not now!" Jack whispered to Roger through clenched teeth. Roger immediately eased off and they all turned their attention to Robert.

"We need water, and some cloth for a bandage!" Piggy said quickly and as he bent down beside Robert.

"I'm gonna die!" Robert screeched and then began screaming again. Everybody looked at him, half believing that he would suddenly drop dead.

"We need water!" Ralph called, bringing the group back to attention. Most of the remaining hunters rushed toward the fire and grabbed the cocoanuts filled with boiled water beside it. Luckily there were a lot of cocoanuts because people hadn't had much to drink with dinner.

"We need clean cloth for a tourniquet as soon as we pull the spear out." Piggy instructed.

"Everyone's shirts are dirty." One of the hunters told Piggy.

"Wash someone's shirt then." Another of the hunters suggested.

"It'll take too long to dry and you can't put a wet bandage on, the moisture will cause a bacterial infection." Piggy explained knowledgeably and he pushed his glasses up on his nose as he said the last two words. Nobody questioned Piggy and the only sound was that of Robert's pained sobs as they tried to think of clean cloth.

Annie thought for a minute. Every second counted and there was no time for modesty. She turned away from the group of boys and quickly pulled the shirt over her, Ralph's, shirt over her head. "It's clean," She said quietly, not at all happy at being seen in just her bra by the entire group of boys. "I'm going to find a shirt."

Annie didn't want to leave Robert, but she knew that he would be fine in Piggy's care. She ran quickly while scanning the ground for a shirt. She entered the empty shelter and became virtually invisible to the group of boys a ways away. She could still hear the screams and sobs of Robert, and the frenzied talking of the others.

"No… no… Maurice, you hold his leg. Ralph, when I say so you pour water slowly and I'll pull the spear out. Jack…" Piggy paused in his instruction and then went on hesitantly. "Jack, you tie a tourniquet around his leg after I get the spear out and Ralph's cleaned it with the water."

"Be a man, Robbie!" Jack said as Robert gave an especially loud scream when Piggy grabbed the spear.

Annie didn't see any shirts so she went in further, her eyes still on the ground. Suddenly there was something directly in front of her. Feet in the sand told her it was not something, rather, someone. She gasped at the sudden presence and slowly let her eyes drift from his feet up to his face.

"Roger!" She said with slight alarm. He had a strange glint in his eye and was holding a shirt in his hand.

"Hi, Analise." He said quietly. "Wandering away from the group." He said with a little chuckle. "Why do that when there's a psycho on the loose. That's what you think I am, don't you?"

"I don't think you're a psycho…" She said with her voice shaking, although with what he had just done and the gleam in his eye she wasn't really sure.

"Bullshit you don't!" He ground out lowly.

"It… was an accident." She whispered. "A mistake, we all make mistakes."

"Maybe it was… and maybe it wasn't." He said in the same way he had before. "Believe whatever you want if it helps you sleep at night. I'd watch my back if I were you, you wouldn't want to be the _psycho's_ next victim. Don't you dare fucking tell _anybody_ what I've said to you."

"I… I won't." She said with shock in her voice. She tore the shirt out of his hand and ran off back to the group, looking back over her shoulder only once to make sure she wasn't right behind her.

He smirked at her in the dark.

Once she was back with the group she began to stop shaking. Robert, however, was shaking worse than anybody she had ever seen. There was a tourniquet tied around his leg, and he was still crying a little. Piggy and the others were sitting around him in a circle, breathing a little heavily. They slowly began to recognize their exhaustion, and one by one went off to bed, leaving just Annie, Ralph, Jack, Piggy, Robert, and Simon still on the beach.

"Someone's going to have to untie the tourniquet every once and a while in order to let blood get to the rest of his leg." Piggy said somberly. "I'll do it tonight." The chubby boy volunteered.

"Are you sure, Piggy?" Annie asked. "I could do it if you want."

"No, it's ok, I'll do it." He admitted. He wanted to do it. Wanted to because it made him useful, and let them know that they needed him. Wanted to because it made him useful, and, if only for one night, he wasn't an outcast anymore.

A/N: I didn't know how I was going to do a follow-up to chapter eight. Just to clear up any confusion about the whereabouts of Sam, Eric, and the littleuns after they were "dismissed" by Ralph: I pictured Sam and Eric taking the littleuns for a short walk and calming them down, and then getting them to go to sleep in one of the shelters. The one that Annie did not have her Roger encounter in.  
That, my readers, was chapter nine. I hope you like it, my offer for a redo still stands if you don't. Please review.


	10. Swing Low

A/N: Hello dears, wonderful to talk to you. There's some more adult language in this chapter, but nothing that would even come near to an R rating. Just thought I'd warn you first so that you're not surprised when it comes up. Sorry for the wait. I really hope you like it!

When Annie woke up the next day she was surprised to find that she had been sleeping with her head on Jack's shoulder. His arm was thrown, almost possessively, across her hip, and he was still in a deep slumber. Ralph was close on her other side, gently pressed up against her, and he was also sleeping.

As she woke up more she could hear a very quiet crying outside of the shelter, and, as carefully as she could she got up without waking the boys. She left the shelter and walked out into the hot sun. It was probably about nine in the morning and after staying up late last night everybody but her and the source of the crying seemed to be asleep.

It was Piggy. She didn't have to ask to see what was wrong. Robert was lying dead, in a pool of his own blood. "How?" Was all that she could make herself say as her eyes went wide with shock and she became completely breathless.

"He just…" Piggy blubbered, "He just wouldn't… wouldn't stop bleeding!" He removed his glasses and furiously wiped his eyes, then drew the back of his palm across his runny nose. "There was nothing I could do!"

"There has to be some reason why he didn't stop!" She said in near hysterics. "I mean… you knew what you were doing, it's not like he wasn't being taken care of." She began to walk away.

"Where are you going?" He blubbered.

"I have to get Ralph and Jack!" She gasped out as she began to cry.

"No! Don't get Jack!" He sobbed. "I was supposed to take care of him, Jack will say it's my fault."

"He… he won't!" She said harshly and through tears. She began running and entered the shelter quickly. "Jack! Ralph!" She whispered as she dropped to her knees between them and began shaking them to wake them up.

"Who the hell…" Jack said gruffly as he rubbed his eyes to wake up. "Oh, hey Annie."

"What's wrong?" Ralph and Jack asked in unison as they realized that she was crying.

"Robert's dead!" She cried out in a whisper, trying to keep the other boys from waking up just yet.

"What do you mean, he's dead?" Jack asked as he got up and rushed past her and into the blazing sun. Annie and Ralph ran after him and got to the body only a second after he did. "Piggy, I thought you said that you could take care of him." Jack said dangerously while staring at Piggy, his eyes cold as stone.

"I tried!" Piggy wailed. There was silence for a few moments and then the other boys began emerging from the shelters.

"Damn it!" Ralph whispered fiercely when he saw that the littleuns were also coming. "Everyone go and eat!" He yelled. Although the littleuns seeing Robert was the least of the problems that needed to be dealt with, he thought it was important to keep them from seeing this and creating more chaos.

"But why, Ralph, what's going on?" Maurice asked as he came out of the shelter. He couldn't see Robert because Annie, Jack, and Ralph were blocking him from their sight.

"Just do it!" Jack yelled back. "And don't come back until I say so!" Nobody said anything else and they all went into the woods, all except for Roger.

"What's wrong, Jack?" Roger asked. Jack looked at the sky for a second, set his jaw, and stepped aside. Annie and Ralph also did and Roger came closer.

"What the fuck! What did you do to him!" Roger screamed in rage, staring at sniveling Piggy.

"It's not his fault." Annie said.

"Then who's fault is it!" He yelled at her.

"I just meant that he did what he could and it's not… it's not his fault that we don't have medical supplies!" She said through tears.

Jack and Ralph both put their hands comfortingly on her shoulder at the same time, which only worked because they were on different side of her. They looked at each other behind her back, coldly staring into each other's eyes. Jack let his hand drop to the small of her back, where he made small comforting circles, and unflinchingly stared at Ralph. Ralph gently squeezed her shoulder and stared back. Through this, Roger's wicked glare at Piggy went unnoticed by all except the recipient of the death stare.

"What happened to his bracelet?" Roger asked, only a little of the rage gone from his voice. He was now kneeling as close as he could to Robert without kneeling in blood, and he was craning his neck and inspecting the boy. His comment has caused both Jack and Ralph to stop their attempt at staring the other down, and they both removed the hands from the girl.

"Robbie never wore a _bracelet_." Jack said while looking at Roger like he was crazy.

"He hid it around you, Jack, he said you'd think it was girly." Roger said. "He wanted you to think he was cool."

"What did it look like?" Piggy asked quickly.

"Why, did you want to wear it?" Roger answered coldly and sarcastically. "I never got a close look at it, he never let me." He said pointedly to Jack. "What's the big deal anyway, it's just a stupid bracelet?"

"Did he wear it all the time?" Ralph asked.

"Yeah, he never took it off." Roger answered. Right after he said this Piggy, Jack and Ralph practically dove at Robert. As gently and carefully as they could they looked in his short-pockets.

"I got it!" Piggy said as he pulled the silver bracelet out of Robert's pocket. "It is." He said quietly.

"It is what?" Roger and Annie said in unison.

"A medical bracelet." Jack answered.

"What does it say, Piggy?" Ralph asked.

"He had hemophilia." Piggy said slowly. "No wonder he bled out… his blood doesn't clot!"

"It really wasn't your fault." Annie said as she sat down in the sand beside Piggy. There was silence fora long time and they all stared at Robert.

"We have to have a funeral." Jack finally said, breaking the silence.

"Right." Ralph said decisively. "Roger and Jack, will you carry Robert to the other side of the island where Kevin's buried?" They nodded in consent. "Does anybody not mind cleaning up the blood so that the littleuns don't see it?" Annie and Piggy hesitantly volunteered. "I guess I'll go and get most of the hunters to come to the funeral."

Jack and Roger carried the bloody body down the beach a ways and then entered the woods to go straight through to the other side. "Why are we doing what Ralph says, Jack?" Roger asked.

"Because we're outnumbered by idiots that elected him chief." Jack answered in a very matter-of-fact way.

"Like fat-ass Piggy…"

"He's only _in _the tribe because he Ralph needs someone to suck him off." Jack answered.

"You mean that little whore isn't doing him?" Roger joked.

"No!" Jack said indignantly. "She wouldn't touch _him_, and she's not a whore."

"Why are you being all nice to her, anyway?"

"I don't know." Jack answered. Roger looked around him at the trees.

"Think there is a beast, Jack?" He asked thoughtfully.

"Nah, there's no such thing as monsters."

Annie and Piggy had finished cleaning up the blood, Ralph had gotten most of the hunters, and Simon had been called. They were currently walking through the woods on their way to the gravesite. Some of the hunters had cried when they found out. They had lied to the littleuns about the nature of Robert's death, but all of the older kids knew the whole truth.

When they got to the gravesite Jack and Roger were already starting to dig a hole. They buried Robert, and Simon lead the "service" just as he had with Kevin's funeral. Jack also said a few words about the deceased member of his choir, followed by some of the other hunters recounting things that Robert had once done or said. Some of the hunters and Annie cried silent tears for the poor boy.

The choir sang softlythe,Jack's adult-like voice soloing and perfecting the angelic sound. _Swing low, sweet chariot,_ They walked solemnly through the woods, some of them still crying. _Comin' forth to carry me home_.They saw no animals in their path, thebutterflies wereelsewhere._Swing low, sweet sweet chariot..._

The group disbandedwhen they got to the beach, everybody acting as if it were a normal day, and they had not just buried a boy.

_Comin' forth to carry me home!_

A/N: There's chapter 10! I know it's unlikely, practically impossible Robert would have hemophilia, much less have kept it hidden from his friends his whole life. Hope you don't mind that I killed off another character. I know it was kind of like, "boom, Robert's dead, end of story" but Golding had about one paragraph explaining Piggy's death and that was pretty much it. I am in the process of thinking of ideas for chapter 11, and you can hopefully expect it by this Sunday. Please review!


	11. Exploration of Castle Rock

A/N: Hello readers! Thanks so much for your encouraging and excellent reviews. This was so hard to write, I had no idea what to say after last chapter. I hope that this is good. Sorry for the long wait, I just had writer's block and no time to write anyway. I think that I have overcome my block now though.

Annie was lying in the dry sand. She allowed herself to be in full sun, although she knew that she would have to move into shade soon, or else face the painful sunburn that she would have later. Simon came and sat beside her after a little while and he passed her some fruit, which she ate slowly because she wasn't very hungry.

"Have you seen Ralph and Jack?" She asked casually.

"Jack's getting food and Ralph's talking to Piggy."

"Oh… Simon?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you miss home a lot?" She asked quietly as Simon began to lie down beside her.

"I guess." He answered.

"I do too. We'll get home soon, I think," She said hopefully. But Simon was silent. "Where do you go at night?" She questioned in an almost whisper.

"Hey! Annie!" Someone hollered to her from the edge of the woods. She sat up and turned her head towards the noise. Ralph stood there looking at her.

"What?" She asked as she got up and he walked over to her.

"Some of us are going to explore the island, you wanna come?"

She looked back to where she had been, but Simon had disappeared. "Alright…" She said a little hesitantly. She wanted to go, but she wondered where Simon had gone so suddenly. "Who's coming?"

"Jack, Piggy, me, of course, and uh, Roger." He answered as he began walking further down towards the receding shoreline. A few moments later Jack and Roger walked coolly out of the woods and strode u to Ralph and Annie who were just skirting the water's edge. Piggy rushed out of the woods behind them, breathing heavily and already struggling to keep up.

"You better keep up, Piggy, because we're not slowing down." Roger said as they began to walk down the beach at a moderate pace. He sounded angry that Piggy was even coming along.

"Wouldn't it be nice if this wasn't really an island at all…" Annie mused as they walked along the beach. "If it were just the tip of a peninsula or something."

"That's stupid." Roger said.

"I know… I was just saying." She answered quietly.

"It could be a peninsula, you never know." Jack said light-heartedly.

"And wouldn't it be great if it was?" Ralph added enthusiastically.

"We could walk to a town and be home by morning." Piggy fantasized.

"I could wash my hair." Annie added.

"And I could eat all the sweets I want…" Piggy said excitedly. They all went on for a while like this, saying things that they could do, if only the island wasn't really an island.

They walked along the beach, not yet delving into the woods. Annie could feel herself burning a little, but there wasn't much that she could do about it so she decided to ignore it. They began to run out of things to say and eventually just walked on in silence. They had been walking for a long time and were now pretty far away from camp. This side of the island was completely unfamiliar to them. They had only gone around the other side to go to the graves so they were surprised to find a rocky part of the island that jutted out into the ocean.

"Let's check it out!" Roger said as he rushed to the edge where rock began. There was a narrow bridge of rock that led out to a more solid large base of larger rocks and solid rock ground. There was also what appeared to be a cave.

"Who's gonna go first?" Piggy asked, in a business-like tone.

"I will." Jack said as he began to forcefully step out onto the bridge.

"I don't think that we should…" Ralph said.

"What are you, scared?" Jack said, going a little further and raising one eyebrow.

"No." Ralph said. "I just don't think that we really need to check it out. It's already getting late, and we're not even very far from camp."

"It's not that late." Jack commented, as if challenging Ralph.

"Yeah… alright. But I want to go first." He said.

"I'm already out here." Jack argued.

"Fine." Ralph said bitterly. The rock bridge was narrow but Jack sidestepped his way across with ease. Once he was on the other side Roger crossed.

"Ladies first." Ralph said to Annie. "Unless you don't want to go yet."

"Uh, sure…" Annie said as she made her way out onto the bridge. It was very high up and she could just see herself plummeting onto the rocks below. A slight salty breeze ruffled her hair and she was half way across the bridge. She was aware that she was moving slower than the boys had, but she didn't care if it took her a year as long as she got across safely.

She was inching closer and closer, all the while only looking forward at her destination. Suddenly the wind picked up. The sea breeze accelerated and became harder wind that blew the forest leaves about and harshly rippled the surface of the water. Annie began teetering back and forth on the narrow rock, struggling to keep her balance. She was just a nanosecond away from falling to her death.

Suddenly Annie felt a hand grab her arm and pull her back on balance. She gasped and began shaking. She looked back at her rescuer who was still holding her arm protectively. "It's ok." Ralph said as he held her arm and they began to move again. "I was only a few feet away the whole time." The made it to the other side. Annie was shaking and breathing rapidly.

"Thank you." She said while struggling to calm herself. "You saved my life." He put one arm around her comfortingly and huddled against him, resting her head against his shoulder.

"Good job, Ralph!" Jack said heartily. Making sure that any sign of bitterness that he had not been the hero stayed out of his voice.

"Thanks, Jack." Ralph replied. Annie had quieted her whispering.

She eventually calmed down and ended up separating herself from Ralph. "You ok?" Jack asked while coming up beside her and casually putting his arm around her. He squeezed her gently and then removed his arm.

"Yeah, I was just a little shaken, that's all." Annie told him.

"Hey, Piggy!" Roger called. "You coming?"

"No… I don't think so." He called back, his voice shaking a little with fright.

"Chicken!" Roger jeered.

"No… I just…" He protested.

"Come on, Piggy," Jack joined in. "Everybody else did it."

"I just don't want to." He whined.

"Don't be a baby!" Jack yelled.

"What's the matter, Piggy?" Roger said evilly. "Mommy's not here to hold your hand?"

"That's enough." Ralph said brusquely, but Jack looked like he wasn't going to say anything after that anyway. Piggy took his glasses off and wiped tears out of his eyes, and Ralph turned to Roger. "What's the matter with you?" He asked venomously. "You know his mother's not…"

"Not what?" Roger asked mockingly. "Alive."

Annie looked at Jack worriedly. As if silently begging him to break up the argument before they started fighting. His expressionless eyes locked on hers and without breaking eye contact he addressed the two boys on the brink of a fight. "What the hell are we waiting for?" Jack said while looking around at the rocks. "The whole purpose of getting over here was to explore it."

They looked around and Jack decided that the small rock isthmus would be a perfect fort. With sharp rocks and water all around, and only the narrow rock bridge to get out to the fort structure, it would be completely defendable. From the main land the rock group looked small but they soon saw that it was larger than it looked. There wasn't one, but three, good-sized caves.

"I don't like it out here." Annie said quietly as they entered one of the dim caves. "It's too dark and cut off from the rest of the island."

"What do you know?" Roger said bitterly while following directly behind her into the cave. "If you were going to be such a baby why didn't you stay back with Piggy?"

"I didn't say I was scared!" She answered angrily. "I just don't like it very much."

"It'd be great, Annie." Jack said. "We could live in the caves and not have to worry about rain, and it would be easily defendable."

'What would you defend it from?' Ralph thought darkly but did not voice.

They eventually finished their exploration and crossed the bridge, Jack and Ralph standing close to Annie to make sure she didn't fall. Piggy was gone, probably back to the shelters, and Jack and Roger began walking back also, thinking the Annie and Ralph were directly behind them.

The sun was already setting, painting the sky with a reddish pinkish glow and causing the sea to sparkle. They were both looking back on the sight, very close together. Their shoulders touched slightly and they looked at each other in surprise. "Thanks again for saving my life." Annie said softly. Not a second after she had finished getting the words out, she felt Ralph lips against her own.

A/N: Oh there is so much more to come, and the end isn't even in sight! I really hope you liked it. For everybody who was routing for Jack, don't give up (Jack won't)! And for everybody who was routing for Ralph, cheer away! Sorry for the wait once again, the next chapter will not take as long. Please review!


	12. Back to Camp

A/N Sorry for the wait, I had no clue what to write. Oh how stuck I was! Hopefully this is good. On to the story!

Annie was surprised by the kiss, so surprised that she did absolutely nothing. It took a few seconds for her to even realize what was happening. Ralph's arms slipped around her waist and she began to respond. Her arms went to rest on his shoulders and her hands instinctively played with the hair on the nape of his neck. He opened his mouth and was trying to coax her into doing the same when she suddenly felt somebody gently poke her back. She knew it was not Ralph because his arms were still wrapped around her waist, unawares to the third person.

She suddenly tore away from Ralph and spun around quickly. The person behind her gave a little scream and jumped back, and she was so surprised by his scream that she screamed a little herself.

"Jeez, Piggy!" Ralph said, running his hands through his hair exasperatedly. "What are you doing?"

"You two shouldn't be…" He said with difficulty because he was breathing hard.

"We were only kissing." Ralph protested.

"Well Jack and Roger are coming back to see what's taking you so long."

"How did you…" Annie started.

"I was in the woods and I heard them talking. I had to run…"

A second later Jack and Roger emerged from the woods and surveyed the sight. "What's taking you so long?" Roger asked.

"We were walking into the woods…" Ralph began to lie.

"And we heard Piggy wheezing a little ways away…" Annie continued.

"So we looked around and found him." Ralph put in.

"I was having an asthma attack." Piggy lied, emphasizing it by breathing heavily.

"So we helped him out into the open air and he's just staring to calm down now." Ralph finished earnestly.

In all honesty Ralph didn't care if Jack and Roger knew he had been kissing Annie. He didn't see why it mattered. Then again he knew enough about the military to see that something like this could cause malcontent among the ranks when they saw that their leader was getting more than their were, whether with food, treasure, or anything of the like. Something about the urgent way Piggy had come to warn them caused Annie to lie about what they had been doing, though she also didn't want everybody to know that she had kissed Ralph. It would change things and possibly create awkwardness.

It was getting darker and they began to walk back. It was close to dusk and the forest was oddly illuminated. The half-light gave everything an ethereal glow. It was the time of day just before night when everything looks blue-grey.

Annie didn't like that they were walking through the forest. But with all the time they had taken on the rocks, the others decided that it would be for the best. After all, the shortest distance between two points is a straight line. It seemed wrong to talk during this ungodly hour, so they were silent.

They walked in a bunch. Sometimes Ralph lead by just a bit, sometimes Jack, and always piggy lagged behind. Annie didn't like to walk right beside Roger, so she tried to put somebody between them at all times, which wasn't hard to do. It was getting darker and the thick forest covering let in no moonlight. They walked faster, trying to achieve something before it was too dark to see. There was no way that they were close to camp yet, and the edge of the forest that gave way to the beach, seemed far away also. Very soon it was pitch-dark.

"Jack?" Roger asked.

"I'm here." He answered. "You there, Annie?"

"I'm ere." She answered, a little further away from the boys than she thought she had been. "Ralph?"

"Right here." He said, even further away. "Still with us, Piggy?"

"I guess so," answered a timid voice, quiet because he was so far behind. "What was that!" Piggy screamed, followed by a strange grunting and huffing sound that most certainly wasn't Piggy. "Ahhhhhh!" The be-spectacled boy screamed in terror. "Run!"

The group began to run. Each of them thinking somewhere deep in their mind: "what if it's the beast?" And whether or not that was their conscious reason for running, they ran swiftly.

Annie ran desperately trying not to injure herself, or trip on the roots that were protruding from the ground. She could no longer hear the footsteps of the others, but she kept running. It seemed like she had been running forever, and she was getting very tired. Just as she was about to slow down she tore through the woods and onto the moonlit beach. She crashed into something and fell to the ground, landing on top of the thing.

She felt its hands grab her wrists as she tried to hit it. Then their positions were switched as it pinned her in the sand.

Just as she was about to scream she saw its face. Jack.

A/N: There it is. Short I know, but the next chapter is coming along nicely and I decided to cut it here to give you something to read. (The next part, coming soon, was originally part of this chapter.) I couldn't make up my mind whether or not to tell you who the person was at the end, and I eventually decided to throw it in as a chapter ender. I hope you liked it, even though it was brief. Please review!


	13. Of Boars and Injuries

A/N: Sorry about the wait, but school's been really busy at the end of the year. I know how hard it is to wait for the next chapter of a story. Thanks for bearing with me, and I hope you like the chapter. And P.S. Annie might be a Mary-Sue (that should change eventually), but she is not some insertion of myself into the story. I'm nothing like her.

"Fucking hell!" Jack swore loudly.

"Jack!" She said in a surprised, albeit relieved, voice.

"Annie!" His face, which had been hard as stone, and his eyes glinting murderously in the moonlight, softened a little as he realized that it was her. She didn't even notice the slight hesitation before he released her arms and stopped pinning her to the ground. He helped her up and they stood looking at each other, the moon shining on the rolling water a few feet away.

"Oh, thank God it's you! I thought it was…" She stopped because she wasn't exactly sure who she thought it was. She knew the beast was a childish concept, a littleun ghost story. Roger though, Roger was real and she was afraid of him.

"What _was_ that thing?" She asked in alarm.

"I don't know, some animal, maybe." He said as his eyes ghosted over the forest.

"How far from camp do you think we are?" She asked. "I don't remember seeing this part of the island before."

"We must be pretty far away, I don't remember it either." They suddenly heard a rustling in the woods and they both backed away cautiously.

"Piggy, Ralph?" Annie asked hopefully. "Roger?"

No answer.

"You don't think the thing in the woods- whatever it was- you don't think it followed us. Do you?" Annie asked nervously, looking aver at Jack.

"Nah." He said, feigning coolness and a casual attitude towards the mystery sound. "It would have caught up to us by now." The rustling got closer.

"R-Ralph?" She asked again nervously.

"I don't think it's him." Jack said quietly, as they both instinctively backed up again. A boar suddenly burst from the woods and ran at them as if to spear them with its sharp tusks. Jack moved out of the way as it began to charge them, but Annie stood still.

"Come on move, Annie!" He yelled, but she still didn't budge an inch. He dove at her and managed to shove her out of the way just as the boar ran through the space that she had been standing in. He didn't realize that he was crushing her into the sand until he heard her beneath him.

"Ouch, oh ow ow!" She whimpered. He rolled off of her, but she was still making the noises.

"Why didn't you…" He started to say, but was cut off when the boar quickly turned and ran back at them. Jack grabbed Annie's upper arm and pulled her quickly to her feet, and they began to run along the beach. Jack was faster but he stayed with her, trying to pull her along at a higher speed.

"Why is it doing this?" She yelled as they sprinted along the beach.

"I don't know. They don't usually attack without reason."

"Maybe it's getting revenge. You have been killing them."

"Do you really think it has the mind capacity to want revenge?" He asked while pulling her along.

"I don't know!" She yelled. "And I can't run any faster!"

He let go of her arm and pulled his hunting knife out of his belt. He stopped and spun around very fast. The boar didn't stop, so he struck like lightning, jamming the sharp blade into the animal's neck. It fell to the ground immediately, dead as the sow they had eaten some time ago.

"It's dead, Annie. You can stop running now." He yelled to her when he looked up and saw her running along the beach. She stopped and walked back to where he stood by the boar. He looked down at his throbbing leg and realized that the boar had driven one of its tusks in the space right above his knee. It wasn't very deep, but it was enough to make walking very painful and difficult. He sat and jammed his knife into the sand beside him.

"You killed it!" She said in a straining voice as she sat next to him in the sand. "How did you do it so quickly?"

"They never go down with just one blow. I got lucky. _We_ got lucky." He said, breathing heavily. "Are you alright, you sound like you're in pain?"

"I just hurt my wrist when you saved me from the boar." She explained while examining her wrist in the moonlight. "Thank you." She said with some embarrassment in her voice.

"It's all right. Some people freeze – I mean, _I_ never have – but some people do. Besides, I don't mind saving _you_." He said letting his eyes flick up to catch hers meaningfully. Their eyes locked for a moment and then hers brushed down, instantly catching on his injured leg.

"Did the boar do that to you!" She asked, her eyes widening with shock.

"Yeah, with one of its tusks. It's not that bad." He said. Feigning nonchalance as blood formed dark little streams down his leg.

"Jack! It _is_ bad, and I'm sure it hurts more than you're letting on!"

"Ok, it hurts. It _really_ hurts." He said as his face turned from forced detachment to a true grimace of pain.

"Right…" She said, taking a deep breath. "Uh, we should clean it, but we don't have any freshwater. So, I guess we could bandage it."

"And what do you suppose we should bandage it with?" He said through clenched teeth. She pulled his knife out of the sand and wiped the blood off on the bottom of her t-shirt, doing well in hiding her disgust. Without missing a beat she let the knife rip through her skirt, being careful not to cut her legs. She cut and ripped the fabric so that she took off one thick loop and it now reached to several inches above her knees. His gouge was quickly cleaned the best it could be, and tightly wrapped in the cloth.

"There, that's the best I can do." She said, patting his bandaged left leg gently.

"You did a good job." He said with gratitude. She smiled at him and then grabbed her wrist at a sudden bolt of pain. "Let me take a look at that." He said as he gently took her wrist in his hand. "I'm pretty sure it's not broken, I think it's just sprained. How long is that shirt on you?"

"Longer than it needs to be, why?"

"We could cut a loop off the bottom and make a sling, that's probably the best thing to do." He stated and she nodded her head in agreement. He soon had crafted a sling and secured it so that it cradled her left wrist.

"Can you walk?"

"Of course I can." He said as he tried to push himself up. He wouldn't ask for help so she eventually tried to pull him up anyway, which wasn't easy using only her right arm. They eventually managed, but try as he might Jack's left leg wouldn't hold. He ended up balancing on one leg while Annie helped him stay up.

They tried walking with him leaning heavily on her, but after a few short paces they fell in the sand in an aching heap, him on her injured arm, and her knee poking into his gashed leg.

"Ouch, ouch!" They grunted as Jack struggled to roll off of her. He eventually succeeded and lay beside her.

"I don't think you're going to be able to walk anywhere for a little while. I can go for help…" Annie said.

"In the morning." Jack interrupted. "Don't go tonight. It's late, it's dark. You could get lost. We can just stay here tonight."

"Alright."

He moved closer and she could feel his body pressed up against hers, his head even touching her own. "It's cold." He murmured, as their worlds dimmed to sleep.

A/N: And there's chapter 13. I really hope you enjoyed it! The next chapter will come rather quickly now that I am finally on summer vacation and I have time to write. Please review and tell me what you think.


	14. A Brewing Storm

A/N: Hello readers! Thanks for reviewing, and I'm glad you liked the last chapter. Hopefully you will like this one also. Really sorry about the wait, you can rest assured that I will be updating more frequently now becuase of school starting. Believe it or not, that seems to be the way it words (I write more during school). Anyway, on to the story!

Fawning isn't really in the nature of males, especially boys. Therefore, the next day when Annie and Jack had returned to camp, after a some fascination with their injuries, most of the boys had set off to do their normal routine.

Jack was very surly while his leg healed. He couldn't do much on his own because he couldn't walk, and dependence on other people didn't suit Jack in the slightest. Piggy kept his distance from the highly irritable boy ever since he had made him angry by bringing him pineapple when he was hungry, which he didn't know Jack couldn't cut because he had lent his knife to Roger for hunting. He could get up by himself if he had something that he could pull himself up by, but other than that he was stuck. He could hop short distances in the woods, but it was impossible to move far in the woods or at all in the sand without help.

The hunters spent most of their time in the forest, doing what their title entails. Though they would go out every day, they hadn't brought back a pig since that first time, and most of them believed that this was due to Jack's absence from their ranks. Their lack of success wasn't due to lack of trying or lack of viciousness, Roger was vicious enough to make up for any need in the rest of the lot, and he made them work hard too.

Ralph was the brace in their society. He was the one that quelled fights and disputes and allowed the hunters to rest when Roger had been working them too hard. He made sure that the fire was tended to, sometimes watching it himself, sometimes appointing somebody else. He made sure that the shelters were holding up, and saw to it that everybody was healthy. They had meetings often, and everybody was allowed to speak, as long as they were holding the conch shell.

It had been a little while since the accident and, still, Jack's leg hadn't healed enough for him to walk. Their regular routine continued and on this day Jack was sitting in the sand, propped up against a tree on the verge of the forest. Ralph was in the woods trying to bring the hunters back because it seemed like there would be a storm soon and the sky was already growing darker with blackened clouds. The wind was picking up and causing the trees to rustle noisily.

It was around noon and Annie was coming out of the woods. "Hey, Jack," she called to the boy who was sitting against the tree.

"Hey," he replied listlessly before dropping his head back against the tree and heaving a sigh. She went to sit beside him.

"So, how's your leg?" She put her hand gently over his bandage.

"A little better, I guess," he said in the same limp voice.

"Do you want some food?"

"No."

"Want me to get you some water? I just boiled some earlier."

"I'm not thirsty."

"I could change the bandage if you want," she said, trying to help him in some way.

"Nah, it can wait for tomorrow."

"It'll heal soon, Jack. Then you'll be able to hunt again," she assured him, wanting to break him out of his lethargy.

He was still unresponsive.

"You'll be your old self in no time," she said as she squeezed his bare shoulder comfortingly. It seemed to help a little.

The water was getting choppier and there was still no sign of Ralph and the hunters. "I don't like it when everybody's gone for so long," Annie said, looking around almost nervously. "It feels a bit like everybody else just disappeared, doesn't it? It's really eerie, especially with this storm coming."

"Hmm," he answered noncommittally.

"Maybe a ship will come tomorrow and we'll all be home before bedtime," she tried wishfully. "You never know."

"It's doubtful," his sallow voice cut in.

"You're right, it is," Annie agreed, adopting his pessimism.

There was silence between them for a moment, leaving only the growing swell of noises from the rocking ocean and forceful wind. A drop of rain, like a single messenger of things to come, crashed down into the sand between the two. It took hardly a second for more drops to fall, and before they knew it a torrent had been released from the sky.

"Woods?" she asked him. He understood and nodded his head. He looped his arm around her and she pulled him up with all of her might. He leaned heavily on her again, just like he had the night when he was afflicted with his injury, but he was better at balancing now and they made it a little way into the woods before she settled him down next to a tree trunk.

"Ralph!" yelled a barely audible voice from off in the distance.

"What was that?" Jack asked.

"I think it was Piggy," Annie answered uncertainly.

"Ralph!" It was closer now.

"Something's wrong," Annie whispered.

"RALPH!" Closer still.

"Very wrong," Jack replied.

"I'll be right back."

She ran, paying no attention to the rain and the fact that she was completely soaked through. "Piggy!" She ran right into the boy only seconds after she had screamed his name. "What's wrong?"

"It's... the..." he gasped out, trying to catch his breath enough to speak. "I... I told them not to swim today! And the water got choppy, and-"

"What happened?"

"Johnny's drowning!"

_"What! _Where is he?_"_

"In the ocean, not far from camp," Piggy gasped out.

"Why didn't you save him?"

"I... I can't swim. You could-"

"RALPH!" she screamed at the top of her lungs.

"There's no time! You'll just have to-" he tried to cut in as she continued to scream for Ralph.

"I can't swim either," she told him gravely.

"RALPH! Roger! Maurice! Simon!"

"ANYBODY!" Nobody answered.

"Do you think Jack could swim if we got him to the water?"

"I don't know, but we could ask him." Annie ran off in the direction from which she came, trying to get back to Jack. Piggy followed as fast as he could while still able to breathe. They soon came upon Jack who had heard their panicked screaming and was pulling himself up using the tree that she had left him by.

"What's going on?" he asked, noting horror on her face.

"One of the littleuns is drowning, and you're the only person we can find that can swim," she explained quickly as he wrapped his arm around her and they made their way, with Piggy's help, to the site of the little boy struggling to keep his head above water.

"Do you think you can do it?" Piggy asked, trying carefully not to make Jack mad.

"What do you think?" he answered over the roaring of the noises of the wind and sea. Annie helped Jack into the water, far enough in so that the swell of the wave came up to her ribs and made it hard to remain standing.

"Please, be careful!" she cried out as he broke away from her and began to swim. If his injury had an adverse effect on his swimming, it didn't show, and he didn't say anything about it.

He kept swimming and the waves got bigger as the storm progressed. Johnny must have been dragged out by the current judging by exactly how far out he was compared to his size and age.

"I don't think they should be here, Piggy," Annie yelled from where she was in the water, speaking of the littleuns watching from shore.

"I'll take them into the woods." And he did, giving one last fearful look at the little boy bobbing and gasping in the water, and the soon-to-be man swimming with all his strength as he was assaulted by the waves.

At length Jack eventually made it out to where Johnny was and, grabbing hold of him, began to swim back to the sandy shore. A massive wave came up and buried the two, Johnny came up a moment later followed directly by Jack who had propelled Johnny up before resurfacing. It wasn't long before another wave, bigger this time, brought the pair under again. Resurfacing took longer this time, but they did come up pretty quickly. They were completely submerged at regular intervals now, the time getting longer and longer.

They were finally almost to where Annie was in the water when a great surge began to grow in the distance, one that dwarfed the rest in size. Jack didn't see it, but Annie did.

"Oh no," she said as she saw it and her eyes grew wide. She quickly backed up in the water, almost falling as she did so. "Hurry, Jack!" she screamed as she continued to back up in the water. He looked over his shoulder and began pulling and kicking as fast as he could when he saw it coming. He could stand in the water now, his feet touching the bottom, but that meant little counting the size of the wave.

"Annie!" he yelled, catching her attention as the was almost at him. He pushed Johnny up out of the water and threw him has hard as he could in the direction of Annie. The little boy screamed, and landed in the water beside Annie about three feet from her. She scooped him up and continued making her way toward shore as the wave hit Jack, towering over him in size and dragging him under, violently rolling him with it. The same wave was large enough that it also engulfed Annie and Johnny, and slapped them down on the beach moments later. It receded back into the sea, leaving the three on the beach, Jack closer to the water.

Annie got up, groaning a little bit from the pain of having the wind knocked out of her so brutally. Little Johnny got up next, but Jack didn't move. Annie ran to Jack and saw that he was unconscious, she grabbed his arms and pulled him with all her might. "Johnny!" she screamed, overcoming the sounds of the storm. "If you have the strength, run into the woods and get Piggy. Go as fast as you can!" He zipped off, spurred as much by the command as the fear in her voice.

She knelt down beside him and put her hands on his stomache, as she had seen done one time before, and pushed, trying to expel the water in his lungs. A little water came out, but he still didn't come to. She could hardly remember what to do from the one time she had witnessed a resusitation, but she pieced together that she had to breath for him when Piggy come rushing out of the woods.

"He's unconscious," she stated as he came up to them.

"You have to... do mouth to mouth resusitation," he said, struggling to breath and obviously in the midst of an asthma attack from the events of the day and all the rushing around.

"How?"

"Pinch his nose closed and... breath into his mouth, then use both hands to do a... chest compression... You have to keep doing that." He explained while wheezing.

She did as he said, and didn't pause at all before putting her mouth on his and exhaling. She continued for minutes and minutes before she raised her head and spoke to Piggy.

"What am I doing wrong?"

He tentatively, and almost nervously, reached out to take Jack's wrist in his hand.

"What are you doing! You can't honestly think he's..." she said with shock and horror.

"I just don't know," he told her quietly, feeling for a pulse. After a moment he looked into her eyes, still wheezing.

"Oh God, no!"

A/N: Finally done! I don't like this chapter _at all_. For some reason it felt really boring up until the end, but hopefully you like it. Sorry about the evil cliffie, but it was the perfect place to end the chapter, which is longer than I usually write. The next chapter is already partially written, and I won't make you wait long for it. Reviews would be, as usual, much appreciated.


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